Something more uplifting than the usual reports on rape, opium wars and terror acts. Watched the "Falcon Heavy" launch, absolutely impressive, and how about those booster rockets that comes back down to to land upright very very cool. The space race as become very interesting again, this Elon Musk have some great visions. Maybe we would already have people on Mars and beyond colonizing space if we didn't have all the rape, opium wars, terror acts and such in our lives.

It was great to watch. I'm not too thrilled about trying to colonize Mars, though. I'm sure that we'll send people there. However, terra-forming Mars to support human life would cost far more than preserving the Earth. Mars is much smaller than Earth, has much less available water and oxygen. It would take a thousands years to make Mars habitable.

I think colonizing (i.e., having a permanent settlement on) the moon would be a cool idea. Many of the problems that would be encountered on Mars could be tackled there. It's much easier to land there. And, there is also a chance for rescue. I'd take a trip to the moon, or an orbit, anytime. Committing to one year + journey, with a small window for return, is something for a whole 'nother type of person.

But, watching rockets take off and land is something fantastic. It's the future, baby.

"A man is rich when he has time and freewill. How he chooses to invest both will determine the return on his investment."

Steve James wrote:It was great to watch. I'm not too thrilled about trying to colonize Mars, though. I'm sure that we'll send people there. However, terra-forming Mars to support human life would cost far more than preserving the Earth. Mars is much smaller than Earth, has much less available water and oxygen. It would take a thousands years to make Mars habitable. .

Yes, if we ever would colonize Mars we should firs have learned from our mistakes we seem to constantly do here on earth, it would be sad to make it habitable just to go on a destructive path there.....But in a thousand years we hopefully are wiser

using our old type >chemical fueled< rockets engines doesn`t take us too far,If we will not be able shorten travel to the mars / me thinkin`- to the week or two max./,exploration, even our own system ,seems to be problematic.

Yes for now Mars is theoretically possible for an around trip but the time must be shortened to about as you say a week or so for us to begin regular missions. I'm sure the technology for it will come sooner or later, the crafts for those missions must probably be built in space so it is a huge project........The Tesla Roadster that now will be put in orbit around Mars will probably be an antique collectible when we begin to put people on that planet:) but we will get there for sure.

I'm sure the technology for it will come sooner or later, the crafts for those missions must probably be built in space so it is a huge project.

Here's the thing. Right now, all the materials necessary to build something in space will have to be brought from Earth at about $1K per pound. Imagine if a Falcon large were built in space. It wouldn't speed up travel to Mars by an hour.

Imo, most likely will be more sophisticated robots sent to Mars in order to collect materials that could be used for human habitation. Robots won't care about being in space for a few years, won't worry about radiation, or about coming back. Even sending a preformed habitable space is viable with current technology. The big problem is trying to land something large on a planet with little atmosphere. Sure, you can try to get there a lot faster, but then you have to slow down very fast. The physics make it difficult. And, ya better not miss at that speed because there won't be any coming back or turn arounds --like we see in Star Wars.

Everybody thinks going fast is the problem. Actually, given time, that's easy. A colleague of mine worked on space sail projects for NASA. For interstellar exploration, a sail with even a small ion drive will achieve enormous speeds. Putting the brakes on that puppy is a whole 'nother subject. Newtonian laws will still apply .

"A man is rich when he has time and freewill. How he chooses to invest both will determine the return on his investment."

yup,sail is very fashionable , but still way too slow /or you have to spend couple of years to reach 100 000 km per sec/, not to mention , as you say - lack of the breaks, hmm reversing the sail for next couple of the years should do, but travel to the Proxima Centauri will take 10-15 years anyway. my shot is - thermonuclear reactor around the ship and antigravity field , still SF , dough